1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to a legless travel tray for holding food items and a beverage container on a user's lap, particularly in moving vehicles. More specifically, it relates to such a tray having an adaptor means that enables it to hold beverage containers of differing sizes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
This invention is directed to a travel tray that is durable and inexpensive to manufacture, yet which is also effective in providing a stable platform for food items and beverage containers when used in a moving land vehicle or watercraft.
Time-constraints sometimes dictate that a meal be consumed in a moving vehicle. Many people patronize fast-food restaurants that serve customers who do not exit their car to eat. Moreover, many families taking long trips bring food and beverages for consumption during the drive. However, many people find that eating in a vehicle can be inconvenient. Most vehicles are not designed with fold-down trays as found in passenger airliners or with dining tables as found in passenger trains. Accordingly, travelers are often required to place food items on their lap while eating, sometimes while trying to hold a beverage container between their knees. Food items and beverage containers tend to slide in response to lateral inertial forces generated by a turning vehicle or in response to longitudinal inertial forces caused by starting and stopping. Moreover, vibrations created by road conditions can also cause sliding and spillage. The spillage of hot beverages may even present a scalding hazard if skin contact is made. Typical trays or plates are not effective because they simply slide off a person's lap in response to such lateral and longitudinal inertial forces and vibrations.
Furthermore, many users do not have a flat stomach. Instead, they have a natural convex curvature to their abdomens, particularly while in a seated position. Typical rectangular trays do not accommodate their user's form and are therefore ineffective in staying in place.
Previous attempts have been made to provide a stable laptop tray for facilitating the consumption of food and beverages such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,562,926 to Mode ('926 patent); U.S. Pat. No. D405,621 to Myers ('621 patent); U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,702 to Davis et al. ('702 patent); U.S. Pat. No. 5,081,936 to Drieling ('936 patent); U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,885 to Sussman ('885 patent); and U.S. Pat. No. D308,450 to Harris et al. ('450 patent); all of which are incorporated hereinto by reference.
The '926 patent to Mode discloses a compartmented food place mat made from a one-piece paperboard blank. The invention does not include any design features to prevent sliding of the tray relative to a user's lap when lateral or longitudinal forces are applied. Furthermore, the '926 patent illustrates the beverage holder in an off-set position which may prove unstable when the tray is subjected to inertial forces.
The '621 patent to Myers discloses a design for a laptop food tray utilizing a hook-shaped member to underlie the thigh of the user for stability. The design patent illustrates the use of depressions to contain spillage and a beverage cup holder. However, the '621 patent requires the user to hook the apparatus under their thigh which could potentially interfere with the operation of a vehicle. The hook-shaped member also makes it difficult to store a plurality of the trays in a vertical stack.
The '702 patent to Davis et al. describes a portable tray having either a core of a resiliently compressed matrix or a plurality of air filled chambers. While the tray's design does provide some resistance to lateral slippage, the tray is bulky and difficult to store. Furthermore, these trays require a significant amount of material for their construction and are therefore expensive to manufacture and transport.
The '936 patent to Drieling describes a desk for laptop use with a concave front edge for conforming to the waist area of a user's body. As in much of the prior art, the '936 patent requires a significant amount of materials to produce and does not vertically stack in an efficient manner.
The '885 patent to Sussman describes a lap tray for carrying food comprising a flat base, a raised lip around the perimeter of the tray, a hole dimensioned to receive a beverage container and a pair of legs depending downward from either side of the tray to prevent lateral movement of the tray. However, the downwardly depending legs hinder the tray from being vertically stacked. Furthermore, the perfectly rectangular perimeter of the tray does not follow the natural abdominal curvature of most users.
The '450 patent to Harris et al. discloses a lap tray having a beverage cup holder, a perimeter lip and two concave channels on the underside to accommodate the legs of the user while in a seated position. The novel lap tray does not accommodate vertical stacking nor does it follow the curvature of most user's abdomens.
The known trays are also typically provided with legs that depend from a bottom surface thereof. The legs interfere with a user's comfort by forcing the user to either sit with the knees close together to avoid contact with the legs, or to sit with the knees wide apart for the same reason. Thus, a legless tray is desirable because it does not dictate the position of the user's knees with respect to one another.
It is well-known that fast food restaurants sell beverages in small, medium, and large sizes; extra large sizes are also quite common. It is therefore noteworthy that none of the prior art travel trays can accommodate beverage containers of differing sizes.
Consequently, there is a need for a legless laptop tray that resists sliding in response to inertial forces generated by a moving vehicle when it starts, stops, and turns.
There is a further need for a legless laptop tray that is easily stackable and storable for repeated use.
There is a further need for a legless laptop tray that securely holds a beverage in place on a user's lap.
There is a further need for a legless laptop tray that accommodates the natural abdominal curvature of most users.
A need also exists for a legless travel tray that accommodates beverage containers of differing sizes.
There is also a need for a legless laptop tray that fulfills all of the abovementioned needs while being durable yet inexpensive to manufacturer and distribute.
However, in view of the prior art considered as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in the pertinent art how the identified needs could be fulfilled, nor was it obvious that a travel tray could be made to accommodate beverage containers of differing sizes.